Shovel Face Oscar - [Fearsome Critter]

The Shovel Face Oscar - [Fearsome Critter 1925.]

•About this critter: This amphibious oddity lurks at the bottom of sandy shallow inland lakes, where it digs nests for mother bass to spawn in using its face as a shovel – it gets its name from the person who discovered it: Oscar Wicklem, an old fisherman.

• History: yet another critter included in "YARNS OF THE BIG WOODS" [1925] – Very little information about this critter was recorded:   

“One of the strangest animals—I guess you’d call him an animal—that I ever heard of up in these parts is Shovel-Face Oscar,“ said the Old Guide, who had been giving a talk on the queer natural history of the North Woods to a party of fishermen from the city.
    “Well, that’s an odd name for an animal,“ ventured one of the men.
    “Yep, and its an odd animal. You see, its this way. As you probably know, bass are very peculiar fish, and when they lay their eggs they do so in a hollowed-out place on the sandy bottoms in the shallow waters of an inland lake.”
“Now there’s a funny little shovel-faced animal that makes a business of hollowing out the nests for their eggs. He has four legs and he eats and sleeps underneath the surface of the water. He makes a nice, smooth, saucer-shaped bed for each mother bass’s eggs.“
    “But where does he get the ‘Oscar’?” asked a listener.
“He’s called that after Oscar Wicklem, an old fisherman, who is the first man, beside the Indians, who ever really saw one of these shovel-faced animals.“  

it's unclear if the Oscar(s) have a symbiotic relationship with the bass or not, perhaps later on it helps itself to some Bass caviar? ...Perhaps they're just friendly... Regardless, in the original illustration, there seem to be multiple Oscars so despite the name, they are a species!... not much else to say!

Sticker Art by @SamKalensky! Part of my cryptids/Fearsome critters collection of stickers, check my shop & follow @samkalensky for many more! approximately 4" weather resistant.